Small liquor store with a sign reading 'Top Liquor Hat' and a large hat graphic on top.

David Hill Gallery, London | Opening September 30, 2021

A Poetic Portrait of Los Angeles

Carrie Scott and David Hill are proud to present Beer Soda Lotto, a long-standing photographic series by Ben Hassett. This exhibition marks Hassett’s first solo show, unveiling a body of work that transforms the mundane into something extraordinary—a poetic and unparalleled portrait of Los Angeles.

Hassett’s lens focuses exclusively on Los Angeles' liquor stores, capturing them with a painterly sensitivity that is as analytical as it is seductive. At once an ode to the intoxicating beauty of LA’s desert light and a study of urban decay, Beer Soda Lotto presents a city caught between nostalgia and disrepair.

The Impossible Stillness of the American West

Steeped in the traditions of American street photography, Hassett’s images echo the frenetic energy of Garry Winogrand and the cool detachment of Ed Ruscha. Yet, his work is distinctly his own. His compositions are meticulously structured, bathed in brilliant, hyper-real color, and eerily devoid of people. Where there should be movement, there is stillness. Where there should be life, there is only light and architecture.

"Ben Hassett’s series is a study—into the history of photography, the history of how we look, and the history of how we, collectively, let cities fall to ruin. They are also, simply, beautiful portraits of the color inherent in the American West."
— Carrie Scott, co-curator of Beer Soda Lotto

Each photograph is a paradox—meticulously composed yet filled with chaotic visual details that might be lost in a blink of an eye. A liquor store sign merges into a surreal linguistic accident, reading “Cherry Liquor” instead of its intended message. A toppling stack of boxes in an upstairs window introduces a note of tension amid an otherwise symmetrical frame. These subtle, uncanny moments push the viewer to look closer, revealing details they might otherwise ignore

Photography as an Act of Seeing

Los Angeles is a city of contradictions—utopian in light, dystopian in structure—and Hassett’s photographs capture this duality with astonishing precision. His use of an architectural camera, a tool typically reserved for the meticulous documentation of buildings, allows him to correct converging verticals, composing each scene with an almost impossible clarity.

This process is both painstaking and urgent. Hassett plotted each location carefully but had to shoot at speed, aware that many of LA’s neighborhoods are not welcoming to lingering observers. His photographs offer a perspective that no passerby could fully absorb in real time, creating an experience that is at once immersive and unsettling.

"With echoes of the early Photo Realists, Beer Soda Lotto is so impossibly hyper-real that it leaves the viewer asking more questions than it answers."
— David Hill, co-curator of Beer Soda Lotto

A City Bathed in Melancholy Light

Beyond their technical mastery, Hassett’s photographs are infused with a timeless melancholy. Los Angeles, a city so often depicted in motion, chaos, and excess, is rendered empty, eerily silent, and steeped in the deep, saturated colors of the desert sun.

"Hassett’s vision of LA is poetic—against the flat bleakness and empty streets. This is a portrait of a city, but also a portrait that illustrates our failure to observe."
— The Eye of Photography

A neighborhood liquor store with a yellow sign that reads 'BOGIE'S LIQUOR' and an awning, situated next to a white, two-story house with a porch and multiple windows. There are advertising boards outside the store and a utility pole with wires overhead.

Ben Hassett: Beer Soda Lotto

Curated By Carrie Scott

Critical Acclaim for Beer Soda Lotto

"Seductive and timeless, Hassett’s images look almost like oil paintings with their rich colors, clever compositions, and heavy textures."
— Creative Boom

"Evocative and melancholy in its subject, the series celebrates the beauty of Los Angeles and how its breathtaking desert light fills every corner, bathing every sidewalk, building, and facade in brightness that Britain rarely experiences."
— Creative Boom

A Hyper-Real Vision of Los Angeles

Through Beer Soda Lotto, Ben Hassett captures a Los Angeles that is both familiar and otherworldly—a city of sun-bleached storefronts, flickering neon, and forgotten corners, where color and light become the main characters. This is not just a study of place, but a study of seeing, asking us to consider how much of our surroundings we truly absorb.

For those who love photography, architecture, and the stark beauty of urban landscapes, Beer Soda Lotto offers a striking, unforgettable experience.

The exhibition opens on September 30, 2021, at David Hill Gallery, Notting Hill, London.

Sign for a liquor store named Monaco with yellow background and red and blue text, and an entrance with 'OPEN' signs.
The exterior of a green building with three windows and a sign that reads 'WEST LIQUOR DELI.' In front, there are posters advertising beer, lottery, and beverages, along with a mailbox and a traffic light.
Street view of a liquor store named Bottle Bin Jr. Mart with a sign advertising cocktails, a Bud Light advertisement, and a large empty billboard above.
A white two-story building with Asian-style architectural elements, a sign for Li Liu takeout, and a traffic light in front.
Exterior of Davy Jones Liquor Locker store with a red and white sign, located on a city street corner with traffic signals and sidewalk.
A corner store with a large red sign displaying beer, soda, and lotto. The building has a yellow roof and a green awning over the entrance, with some patio chairs outside.
White building with a large red sign that says 'LIQUOR' and a smaller sign below it. There is a window with metal bars and a striped awning, and a vending machine outside. The building is on a street with a green curb.
Corner of a building with signs for a liquor store, a stop sign, and a street sign reading 'Humboldt Town' at the intersection.
Exterior view of a liquor store with signage advertising cold beer, fine wine, phone cards, and ATM services. The store has a green awning and large liquor sign on top, with a graffiti-covered shutter. Palm trees are visible in the background.
The exterior of Rosa's Liquor, a grocery store selling beer and wine, with signs for live bait and liquor. There is a fire hydrant, a utility box, and a vending machine on the sidewalk.
Part of a store sign with the text 'PRODUCE LIQUOR', a small shopping cart, and a shadow on the wall.
Street view with a liquor store, signage, parked cars, and a sidewalk with a tree.
A bright yellow building with a large black partially obscured sign that reads 'LIQUOR' on a corner, with traffic lights and utility poles in front, and a blue sky in the background.
Exterior of a liquor store with large red and yellow signs advertising check cashing, ATM, lotto, snacks, cold drinks, phone cards, and accepting EBT. The storefront has a red awning, and there are various signs and posters visible around the building.
Exterior of a liquor store with yellow and red signage, advertising ATM, money order, cold beer, discount cigarettes, lottery, and ATM services. There are yellow bollards in front and a shopping cart nearby.
A building with a sign that reads 'IQOR' and a banner for a recycling center, flat roof, and a metal fence in front.
A white two-story commercial building with a parking sign and a store window displaying cigarette prices, situated on a city street under a clear blue sky.
Exterior of a liquor store with a sign reading "Young's Liquor Market" on a beige building, with additional signs, utility poles, and power lines visible.
Cliff's Liquor store with a curved white sign and a vertical sign reading 'Liquor' attached to a building with a stone exterior.
A brick building with a neon sign that reads "Liquors" and a metal security gate in front of large windows. There is a tall metal tower on the roof and a street sign with a person walking silhouette nearby.